So, you're responsible for the use of educational technology in the school, but its use and principles are taught across the curriculum rather than as a discrete subject. In other words, by non-specialists in all likelihood. How can you maintain high standards in the subject and the use of educational technology in such a situation? In this article I look at 14 suggestions.
Read MoreGetting permission to go on a course or to a conference
Having to make the case for actually registering for an event is, in my opinion, treating teachers as if they were (a) non-professionals and (b) children.
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Blogger, by Terry Freedman
New blogging course
If you’ve thought about starting your own blog, but are not sure what to write about or what keeping a blog entails, then a course I’m teaching in December 2019 might be of interest.
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Training manual, by Terry Freedman
Ideas for In-Service Training for ed tech teachers
The dreaded training day season looms. But the event doesn’t have to be awful as it frequently is.
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We need more teachers, and not just master teachers. Picture from www.pixabay.com CC0
5 reasons there is a shortage of Computing at School Master Teachers, and what we can do about it
Over three years since the new Computing curriculum in England was mooted, and more than a year since it came into being, there are still not enough teachers who feel competent and confident to teach it. This is not least in part due an insistence on an elitist approach to training them. In this article I suggest a few possibly more fruitful approaches.
Read More5 reasons schools need computing teachers with expertise in the subject
Some Principals and Headteachers think that a good way around the problem of teaching computing is to not worry about whether teachers have subject knowledge at all. “All we need are facilitators”, they say, “while the kids can teach themselves and each other.” This is, as any teacher knows (or should know), easy to say, less easy to do, and not altogether the most desirable thing to do even if you can do it. However, just in case your school happens to be “led” by one of the aforementioned Headteachers, here are some arguments you may want to use. I think that any one of them should suffice, and all of them together make for a cast-iron case.
Read MoreMaintaining Standards
So, you're responsible for the use of educational technology in the school, but its use and principles are taught across the curriculum rather than as a discrete subject. In other words, by non-specialists in all likelihood. How can you maintain high standards in ICT and the use of educational technology in such a situation?
In this article I look at 14 suggestions.
ICT Conferences (again)
Just in case you hadn’t realised I’ve updated my original post about this several times, here is a list of the conferences I mentioned, in alphabetical order.
Read MoreConferences coming up
There are a few conferences coming up in England which you may find useful. Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list!
Read More2 days to go, 1 day to go
Reading with interactive books; digital leaders; hacking; games in schools; video-conferencing; future-gazing; theft-prevention.
Read MorePlanning an ICT Co-ordinators' Day
If you're in the process of planning an ICT (Technology) Co-ordinators' Day -- or really any other kind of similar event -- then this article from 2 years ago should help.
Read MoreA conference, summer CPD and a UNESCO report
Here are three options for you to consider in order to give a boost to your professional development:
- The forthcoming ISTE conference in Philadelphia.
- A cornucopia of ideas for professional development over the summer break, in case all that relaxing gets you down.
- A report from UNESCO on Learning, Innovation and ICT.
All this was published last week in Computers in Classrooms, the free e-newsletter for educational ICT professionals. Subscribe now (literally: right now) and you’ll stand a chance of winning a premium version of Xobni, a pretty good email management tool. I’m running the draw for that at 10 pm UK time today.
Read on for the details of those three resources.
Technology in the media
I'm interested in how technology is used in the media, and think that in many respects the media is more innovative than schools when it comes to using the technology.
I think it would be interesting to explore this, and perhaps a good way of starting off would be to join an online discussion this evening with Tony Johnston of the Press Association.
Read More3 professional development opportunities, and they’re all free
In these austere times, free is good, right? Here are three sources of professional development that you will, I’m sure, find useful.
Another year, another BETT
It’s been a week of three conferences including, of course, the BETT show. I really enjoyed it, and will be writing about it in more depth in Computers in Classrooms in the very near future. But for now, here are some reflections.
Read MoreBETT Bulletin #1: ICT in the curriculum, plus first looks
This is a quick note, in effect, not an in-depth analysis. That will come in the newsletter Computers in Classrooms, after the show.
Read MoreGuidance for the BETT Show (and other conferences)
Last year I published a guide to BETT (and other conferences) for subscribers to the free newsletter, Computers in Classrooms. I think the advice is still relevant. I looked at the following:
- 9 reasons to attend.
- 4 arguments to put to your boss as to why you should be allowed to attend.
- 3 other kinds of colleagues who should attend.
- 13 things to do in advance.
- 16 ways to get the most out of the show.
- 7 ways to follow up afterwards (once you’ve recovered!).
You can read that online here.
Evaluation of Learning Without Frontiers Pre-Conference
I was looking forward to hearing some great presentations and startling revelations at the Learning Without Frontiers Conference. But I spent almost my whole time there talking to people. The way I figure it, if something is really good I'll get to hear about it anyway, so given the choice between listening to a talk, and discussing –and-catching up-and-networking type of activity, I choose the latter. At least, I did yesterday.
So, how was it for me?
Read MoreDates For Your Diary
At the moment we have a very unfortunate situation in the UK: at the very time people need to be getting as much professional development as they can, because of the need to keep up with all the changes taking place, it’s becoming harder for them to do so because of budget tightening. Nevertheless, do try to get to at least one professional development training event a term, if possible. As a public service, I’ve listed some of the ones which have come to my attention
Read MoreGreat professional development -- and free!
How would you like to listen to some world-famous speakers and then discuss their talk with them? That’s what Vital is offering. Drew Buddie and I are organising a series of one hour online talks starting on 2nd November.
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